WESTERN INCIDENTS. 29

the Territory could produce. The whole affair, both in
its inception and execution, would have done credit to
any State east of the Missouri River.

The articles which most attracted our attention were
the mammoth specimens of vegetables on exhibition.
Such cabbages, beets, turnips, tomatoes and potatoes I
have seldom seen at any State or county exhibition in
New York, and they were all produced by irrigation.

The farmers with whom we conversed informed us, that
they much preferred this sure method of raising a crop, to
the uncertainty attending all farming operations in the
Eastern States where they had resided; the expense was
comparatively trifling, and their preparations for irriga-
tion had now become so far advanced, that they felt sure
of being able to supply the entire demand hereafter, and
at moderate prices.

The knowledge of this fact has changed my whole
former theory on this subject. I had supposed that the
immense population which is settlmg in the mountains,
would have to be supplied with agricultural products, for
all time, from the productive regions of the lower Platte,
and the States of Iowa, Illinois and Missouri. But now
I see that all these lands, lying along the eastern base of
the Rocky Mountains, and susceptible of being irrigated
by the mountain streams, whose sources are the eternal
snows upon their summits, will sooner or later be made
to produce all that will be required for the millions of
hardy mountaineers, whose thirst and search for gold and
the other precious metals preclude them from devoting
their time to agricultural pursuits, even though the cli-
mate and soil of the mountain regions should warrant it.

The specimens of jewelry, saddlery, needle-work and
other varieties of mechanical skill too numerous to men-
tion, were remarkable for their ingenuity and perfection.